The researchers directly exposed cultured rat, mouse and human cells to BPA. They then examined extracted cells from female mice fed on a diet of the chemical.

"Our findings have relevance for identifying unique neurodevelopmental toxicity of BPA, which could possibly play a role in the pathogenisis of human neurodevelopmental disorders," they write.

Dr Marian Lloyd-Smith, a senior advisor to Australia's National Toxics Network, says the study "marks the death knell of BPA."

"It shows how BPA can affect the developing brain of our children," she told AM. "And it clearly gives a process by which BPA has an effect, which is what's been missing up until now."

But others question the study's relevance to human exposure to BPA in the environment.

Dose and delivery

Dr Ian Musgrave, a molecular pharmacologist from the University of Adelaide, says while the study throws light on aspects of gene regulation, it is "not relevant to human exposure of the chemical."

"The concentrations in this study are hundreds to thousands of times higher than humans would be exposed to through the maximal permissible level of BPA in food," Musgrave says.

Professor Andrew Bartholomaeus from the University of Canberra, says the findings are interesting but the methodology used by the scientists is "not relevant to the normal route of exposure."

"The actual brain cells were treated in culture in a very non-physiological environment - so they were actually taken out of the animal and bathed in a solution which actually had the Bisphenol-A in it," says Bartholomaeus who has worked in risk assessment for Food Standards Australia New Zealand, which monitors levels of BPA in food containers.

He says BPA consumed in food or drink is metabolised before it enters the bloodstream.

"So in terms of human risk assessment where we don't generally consume our soft drinks intravenously, it has fairly low relevance because our cells are not exposed to BPA in the form that was used in the study," he says.

BPA has been banned from use in baby's bottles in the US, Canada and the European Union.

In Australia, major retailers began voluntarily phasing out BPA baby bottles three years ago after talks with the Federal Government.